TRUE CONVERSION

As we continue reading the remarkable account of Ammon and his brother’s missionary work among the Lamanites we find the following account of the conversion of the children of Lehi who had previously referred to themselves as Lamanites, but now took upon themselves the name of Anti-Nephi-Lehies (Alma 23: 17).

And now it came to pass that when the king had sent forth this proclamation, that Aaron and his brethren went forth from city to city, and from one house of worship to another, establishing churches, and consecrating priests and teachers throughout the land among the Lamanites, to preach and to teach the word of God among them; and thus they began to have great success.

And thousands were brought to the knowledge of the Lord, yea, thousands were brought to believe in the traditions of the Nephites; and they were taught the records and prophecies which were handed down even to the present time.

And as sure as the Lord liveth, so sure as many as believed, or as many as were brought to the knowledge of the truth, through the preaching of Ammon and his brethren, according to the spirit of revelation and of prophecy, and the power of God working miracles in them—yea, I say unto you, as the Lord liveth, as many of the Lamanites as believed in their preaching, and were converted unto the Lord, never did fall away.

For they became a righteous people; they did lay down the weapons of their rebellion, that they did not fight against God any more, neither against any of their brethren.

Now, these are they who were converted unto the Lord: (Alma 23: 4-8)

Having had the experience of witnessing many people bear testimony of knowing the truthfulness of the gospel of Jesus the Christ and thereafter falling away, it makes me marvel that this vast community of Anti-Nephi-Lehies, in spite of having many trials pressed down upon them, never wavered in their conviction.

The great difference between the converts I have observed during my life and that of the Lamanite converts who lived in what are now called the Americas during the last century before the birth of the Savior, has brought into my mind many ponderings about why this difference exists.

It seems we can rule out, since the basic gospel message has remained unchanged and the Holy Spirit continues to fulfill His office as the Testator, people in all dispensations should have equal opportunity of once having received an understanding of the truth, being able to remain strong in their faith.

If the Lord has promised never to test us beyond our ability to resist, are peoples of different times subjected to different levels of temptation, or do they have different levels of ability to resist?

Is it possible that the expectancy level of obedience the Lord places on different generations is not a constant?

Why do children of seemingly faithful parents not grasp the principles of truth to the same degree?

Why do any of us seem to frequently vacillate in the degree of conviction to the principle of the Gospel?

I recently received a response to one of my Thoughts from a dear friend and mentor which I think could be helpful as we ponder the phenomena of unequal conversions.

In this transient life we make choices and decisions, but we do so with at best a confused and muddled understanding; a confused and dim picture dependent on the influences around us.

To the extent that men (and women) who influence us are right, and to the extent that our interpretations and discernment affords us true grasp of what they teach us, then our choices MAY be right. Not completely right because between the receiving of revelation (or insight for that matter), the intellectual grasp of a message from the infinite, the conversion of the message into human language, the transmission of that message to another whose personal use and grasp of language differ from the prophets (or another person’s) and the actuation of that message, it will of necessity become altered.

The reception of a message from a prophet is not equivalent to a message to a prophet.

Having received much input from others and from God’s spirit from His world, we exercise our agency, make decisions and commitments; then we die.

We, in life, have seen through a glass darkly, but then face to face.

Now, at last, how would one say, how could I say that, knowing that indeed God is God, not only great but Infinite, could anyone possibly continually make such a self destructive choice?

Agency persists however. With agency, there must be consequences. (Paul Maddox)

And therein we find many answers to our quandaries.

Because of Agency it is absolutely certain that the consequences of choices will result in vast differences of conversion durability and quality.

Because of the consequences which attend agency we need not fear about eternal absolute justice.

Because of Agency we will always be amiss in trying to make dispensational or individual comparisons.

Because we now walk inside of the glass darkly, the total understanding of the mysterious dispensational work of Heavenly Father with His children will have to wait until that Eternal day when we become children of the light.

Since my personal struggle with the process of remaining constant, committed and converted to those things I have born witness of is ongoing and the inspirational informational input seems endless, it would be well for me to allow my neighbor the privacy of their personal journey in a world operated and sustained by the Divine principle of Agency,


THOUGHTS FOR A SABBATH DAY – WILLIAM L. RILEY

EDITED BY – KATHLEEN W. RILEY

THINK + PLAN + PREPARE + DO + HUGS + PEACE + JOY + LOVE + INTEGRITY + FAITH + HOPE + CHARITY = THE GOOD LIFE